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Intel is still determined to make an impact on the dGPU segment, as shipping manifests have revealed development on a new Battlemage and a rather mysterious SKU.
Intel Resumes Work On Battlemage "BMG-G31" Variant; Likely Preparing a Model For AI/Professional Workloads
Intel surprised us last year when they revealed two new Battlemage GPUs, the Arc B580 and B570. These managed to see massive interest at that time, mainly since next-gen solutions from NVIDIA and AMD weren't in the market. Now, with Q2 almost ending, Intel has provided no update on plans for the desktop GPU segment, which created the perception that Team Blue has no ambitions; however, new details on shipping manifests reveal a different situation.
What do they mean by this pic.twitter.com/tOmqVBsMB2
— Haze (@Haze2K1) April 18, 2025
The manifests have revealed the presence of "BMG-G31", a superior silicon to what is present in current Battlemage SKUs. It was said that a variant on this die would feature around 24-32 Xe2 cores with a 256-bit memory bus and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory; however, reports of BMG-G31 getting cancelled started to swirl online, saying that Intel has no plans to release a product for the consumer market. Moreover, shipping manifests categorize the BMG-G31 entry for "R&D purpose", likely implying that this particular model is intended for AI/professional workloads.
Along with this, another shipping manifest mentions a weird variant, the BMG "C32", which is a bit confusing of a naming scheme considering that it features Battlemage and Celestial initials. However, it is claimed that this particular model is a part of the Battlemage lineup, and likely a "reworked" variant of the "BMG-G31", according to @mikdt, so it is safe to say that Intel is working upon multiple Battlemage models, but the question is whether they are intended for the desktop market.
It would be interesting to see what sort of approach Intel adopts for its discrete GPU lineup, given that the firm is currently working on Xe3 "Celestial" architecture that Panther Lake SoCs will adopt. With Intel's new CEO in the office, priorities have shifted towards AI, so Team Blue would likely be focusing on releasing GPUs for AI-oriented workloads.
